Final ‘Divergent’ Film to Become a TV Movie, Launch a New Spinoff Series

The first Divergent movie did OK in theaters, owing much of its success to the YA post-apocalyptic craze and the popularity of stars Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller. But the subsequent installments saw diminishing returns, with the third film, Allegiant, taking a major hit at the box office — possibly because audiences had YA fatigue, or maybe because the story just wasn’t that compelling. Whatever the case may be, the final Divergent film will skip past theaters and head direct-to-television, with plans to launch a spinoff series.

Per Variety, Ascendant is set to become a TV movie that will introduce new characters to the series in the hopes of launching a Divergent spinoff show set in the same world. Not long ago, Lionsgate tapped Lee Toland Krieger (The Age of Adaline) to helm the fourth and final installment in the Divergent series, which was set to hit theaters in June 2017, opposite World War Z 2 and The Mummy reboot starring Tom Cruise — the sort of competition that guarantees certain doom for a shaky franchise like this one.

It’s not clear if Krieger is still attached to direct Ascendant, or if any of the main cast members from the film series will reprise their roles for the TV movie — that includes Woodley, Teller, Ansel Elgort and Theo James. Lionsgate is reportedly developing a plan for Ascendant that would allow them to wrap up the current storyline while bringing in the new characters to set up a spinoff series.

Lionsgate hasn’t made a formal announcement, and they haven’t begun to pitch the TV movie / series spinoff idea to major networks just yet.